Access to information and privacy at NSW Trustee and Guardian

Under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act), all NSW Government departments and agencies are required to publish certain information.

Download our Agency Information Guide (PDF 1.28MB)

Our structure

NSW Trustee and Guardian formed on 1 July 2009 by the NSW Trustee and Guardian Act 2009 merging the former Office of the Protective Commissioner and the Public Trustee NSW.

The position of Public Guardian continues and remains separate in its functions but reports administratively to the Chief Executive Officer of NSW Trustee and Guardian.

NSW Trustee and Guardian operates in accordance with the NSW Trustee and Guardian Act 2009 and the NSW Trustee and Guardian Regulation 2017. We have regard to a wide range of legislation impacting on our operations.

Our purpose

NSW Trustee and Guardian is a statutory agency within the Stronger Communities Cluster. The agency supports the Chief Executive Officer of NSW Trustee and Guardian and the Public Guardian to carry out the statutory functions.

These functions protect, promote and support the rights, dignity, choices and wishes of the people of New South Wales. The services help support and protect some of the most vulnerable members of the NSW community, as well as supporting people at vulnerable moments in their life.

We do this by providing independent and impartial services that support customers and help them manage their health, lifestyle and financial affairs, and to make sure their wishes are carried out when the time comes.

Our functions

We provide the following services to the people of NSW:

Financial management

NSW Trustee and Guardian may be appointed financial manager to provide financial management services for people who are not able to manage their own financial affairs and need someone with legal authority to make important financial decisions for them. Usually this is due to mental illness, brain injury, intellectual disability, psychiatric disability or dementia.

These decisions are made according to the principles of substitute decision-making contained in the NSW Trustee and Guardian Act 2009.

Authorisation and direction of private managers

Private managers are appointed by the Guardianship Division of the NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal or Supreme Court to manage the financial affairs of people with limited decision-making abilities. NSW Trustee and Guardian provides authorisation, supervision and direction for private managers.

Trustee services

We provide trustee services for people, government and organisations wishing to employ an executor, trustee, agent or attorney.

Our services include:

• Will making
• administration of deceased estates
• trustee of trusts created by Wills, deeds, court orders and legislation
• attorney services
• NSW Trustee and Guardian is named in legislation:
  • as trustee for workers compensation death benefits and Civil Procedure Act 2005 compensation funds; and
  • to manage seized or confiscated assets pursuant to Confiscation of Proceeds of Crime Act 1989 and Criminal Assets Recovery Act 1990.

Guardianship services

The Public Guardian may be appointed as guardian for a person with limited decision-making abilities when there is no other person able to take on this role and when there is a need to make decisions about health and welfare issues. The Public Guardian makes decisions in accordance with the principles of the Guardianship Act 1987.

Public participation

Members of the public can contribute and/or participate in forming policy, to make suggestions, or raise issues that they feel are of concern to them or to the public at large by writing to the Chief Executive Officer of NSW Trustee and Guardian.

At times various areas of government may hold public consultations which may impact on the functions of NSW Trustee and Guardian. In instances where we are looking for submissions, information on public participation is outlined on the website of the specific department.

Our finances

NSW Trustee and Guardian is a self-funding NSW general government agency. Our revenue comes from:

• commissions and fees on estates, trusts and agencies
• fees for managing our clients’ assets
• income on corporate investments
• our community service obligations payment from government.

Commission and fee rates are constantly reviewed regarding both costs to the organisation and market rates. Charges are structured to deliver professional trustee and financial management services at a reasonable cost to the people of NSW, regardless of their wealth. Fees and commissions may be reduced or waived in cases of hardship.

The basis for charging and the level of fees is established in the NSW Trustee and Guardian Act 2009 and NSW Trustee and Guardian Regulation 2017.

For details of our operating performance refer to our Annual Report.

We have a number of publications and policies that may be relevant to members of the public. You can learn more about our current policies that are open access, as well as review our current publications.

The GIPA Act provides that if NSW Trustee and Guardian releases information in response to a specific request, we must make it publicly available if it is considered to be of interest to other members of the public.

Most of the applications we receive are requests for information about a particular person. Generally, these applications would not be of interest to other members of the public. As such, pursuant to sections 25 and 26 of the GIPA Act, we would not normally disclose it in our ‘disclosure log’. 

To date there have been no access applications which we consider to be of interest to other members of the public. Access to information requests are recorded in our Disclosure log (PDF 85.85KB).

All our compliance certificates from 2024 are available on the NSW Government compliance certificate hub. 

• Advertising compliance certificate 2019-20 (PDF 486.65KB)
• Advertising compliance certificate 2020-21 (PDF 166.73KB)
• Advertising compliance certificate 2021-22 (PDF 183.43KB)

Contract award notices are notifications of existing contracts between a NSW Government organisation and a private entity. As required by the Government Information Public Access Act, they are publically available on eTendering.

The Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA) requires the publication of a copy of the contract document (minus commercial-in-confidence content) for all 'Class 3' contracts on our agency website.

A Class 3 contract is a contract where the estimated value of the government contract is $5 million or more and that meets a set of defined conditions.

NSW Trustee and Guardian’s Class 3 contracts are listed in the table below. 

You can find disclosure details for these contracts on the NSW Government eTendering (select NSW Trustee and Guardian in the Agency field).

Class 3 contract information

There are currently no Class 3 contracts listed.

If the information you need is not already published on our website, we may be able to release it to you on request, without you needing to make a formal application under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009. Information may be released if there are no public interest reasons why it should be kept confidential.

Complete the form to make an informal information request.

Information must be made available unless there is an overriding public interest against disclosure. To decide if there is an overriding public interest against disclosure, the public interest test needs to be applied to the information.

After applying the public interest test, we will determine whether the information:

• may be made available in full
• may be made available with deletions
• cannot be made publicly available because there is an overriding public interest against disclosure.

If a section of a document containing open access information cannot be released due to overriding public interest considerations, then a copy of the document with deletions will be posted on our website noting that it is an incomplete document.

If you are looking for specific information which is not available on our website and/or your informal request has been denied, you may apply formally for access to it.

A formal application is made by completing the Government Information Access application form.

Applications must:

• be in writing
• clearly state that you are making a request under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009
• include payment of a $30 application fee (cheques and postal orders made out to 'NSW Trustee and Guardian')
• nominate a return postal address in Australia for correspondence purposes
• include sufficient detail for NSW Trustee and Guardian to identify the information you are looking for.

If your application does not include all these things, it will be invalid and cannot be processed.

If that happens, our Information Officer will let you know what you need to do to make your application valid.

If your application is valid, our Information Officer will acknowledge receipt of the application within 6 working days and deal with your application within 20 working days.

Under certain circumstances, we may need an extension of time to complete the application and you will be informed if this is the case.

If we do not decide your access application within 20 days, it is considered 'refused'.

We will refund your application fee and you will have the right to seek an internal or external review. This does not apply if an extension of time has been arranged, or when we are waiting for you to pay an advance deposit.

How much will it cost?

The application fee under the GIPA Act is $30. 

You can pay this fee by bank transfer before you submit your GIPA Act application online below, or send a cheque or money order if you choose to mail your application.

Bank transfers can be made to:

NSW Trustee and Guardian
BSB: 032-001
Account number: 101088

Include 'GIPA Act' and your last name as your bank transfer reference e.g. GIPA Act Smith

In addition to the $30 application fee, we may charge $30 per hour after the first hour to search for the information, consult third parties and make a decision about access (unless you have asked for your personal information, in which case the first 20 processing hours are free).

You can apply for a 50% reduction in processing costs if you can show you would suffer financial hardship, or you can show that the information is of special benefit to the public generally. You will need to provide supporting evidence.

We can also waive, reduce or refund the fees and charges depending on the reasons you put forward.

We may ask for an advance deposit to cover the estimated processing charges. The time allowed to finalise your application does not include the time waiting for an advance deposit to be paid. Any deposit paid will be refunded if we do not decide your application in time.

• Instrument of authorisation (PDF 416.01KB)
• Schedule A - Government Information (Public Access) Act (PDF 245.98KB)

Requests for an employee to attend court to give evidence must be served directly on the employee concerned.

All other requests should be addressed to the Proper Officer.

Payment

Basic conduct money is $100 and is payable upon service of the subpoena, summons or statutory notice/order.

Conduct money includes the production of up to 250 pages and the first hour of processing (including locating, collating, and producing time).

Payment can be made by cheque, money order, or bank transfers can be made to:

NSW Trustee and Guardian
BSB: 032-001
Account number: 101088

Include ‘subpoena’ and the name of the person the subpoena or summons relates to in the bank transfer reference.

Proof of payment (EFT remittance advice) must be attached at time of lodgement.

Additional costs

The following additional costs may apply: 

• $69 per hour after the first hour for processing by clerical officers
• $82 per hour after the first half hour for processing by legal officers 
• if an employee is required to attend court, ordinary salary, travel and accommodation expenses are required to be paid
• additional photocopying of documents is 25 cents per page (after 250 pages)
• archival retrieval, courier costs and any other disbursements (costs associated with legal services) will also be recovered.

You will be contacted if any additional compliance costs apply before any documents are produced.

If you have any questions, phone 1300 109 290 and ask to speak to someone from our Legal Services team. 

NSW Trustee and Guardian collects your personal information in order to carry out our statutory functions, meet our legal obligations and for limited marketing purposes.

We may collect information when you:

• contact us to ask for information
• contact us for assistance with your specific circumstances
• appoint us to prepare your Will, Power of Attorney and/or appointment of Enduring Guardian
• become a customer by appointment by someone else or by order of a Tribunal or Court
• provide us with information about a NSW Trustee and Guardian customer
• attend a NSW Trustee and Guardian branch
• attend a NSW Trustee and Guardian pop-up location, community education session or other event
• ask for access to information held by NSW Trustee and Guardian
• provide feedback or make a complaint about NSW Trustee and Guardian
• apply to work with NSW Trustee and Guardian or to provide a reference
• ask to be included in our mailing or contact lists.

When we become involved in someone’s life we receive and collect a lot of personal, health and sensitive information about the person, their family and sometimes, friends. We respect the privacy and confidentiality of that information.

We may also collect personal information from third parties or publicly available sources in order to perform our statutory functions and legal obligations. The meaning of “personal information” is defined by the Privacy & Personal Information Protection Act 1998 and Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002. When we refer to personal information, this can include your name, contact information, opinions and views, health information, financial information and other legal information. More information about the types of personal information we collect in specific circumstances is contained in NSW Trustee and Guardian’s Privacy Management Plan (PDF 611.12KB).

We may use, store, and disclose your personal information to perform our legal services, carry out our statutory functions and for marketing purposes. This includes when we are appointed as executor or administrator, trustee, financial manager, guardian, or attorney. It also includes when we provide support to private guardians and private financial managers, are a party to a NCAT hearing, prepare or store planning ahead documents, or respond to general enquiries.

We sometimes share information with other government agencies and service providers to ensure our customers are appropriately supported and get the appropriate services, supports or entitlements.

We may use private sector companies and contractors (for example internal and external auditors, IT contractors, legal service providers), or other government agencies to provide services. If these organisations or individuals have, or are likely to have, access to personal information, NSW Trustee and Guardian ensures that personal and health information is managed in line with legislation and information security policies. 

We may also use your personal information to offer you other goods, services, marketing material or surveys. You are able to opt out of this at any time by contacting us on info@tag.nsw.gov.au.  

More information about how we collect, use, store and disclose personal and health information in specific circumstances is contained in NSW Trustee and Guardian’s Privacy Management Plan (PDF 611.12KB).

Under the Privacy & Personal Information Protection Act 1998 you have the right to access your personal information without excessive delay or expense. NSW Trustee and Guardian is generally required to provide you with access to the personal and/or health information it holds and allow you to amend this information without excessive delay or expense. 

You also have the right to have your personal information held by us corrected in certain circumstances.

To amend or access your personal and/or health information, please contact your key contact, appointed Client Service Officer and/or NSW Trustee and Guardian branch representative at the links below.

Due to the developing nature of privacy principles for online communication, this policy may be modified or expanded in light of new developments or issues that may arise from time to time. The amended policy will be posted to this website and will operate from the time it is posted.

NSW Trustee and Guardian manages and responds to an eligible data breach, in compliance with obligations under the NSW Mandatory Notification of Data Breach Scheme. If it is not possible to notify individuals or organisations directly, details of the data breach should be included on the NSW Trustee and Guardian Public Notification Register.

For more information, see the Privacy Management Plan (PDF 611.12KB) or contact the Information Officer, informationofficer@tag.nsw.gov.au.